Passage: Isaiah 46, 47, 48 (RSV)


Isaiah 46


1Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are on beasts and cattle; these things you carry are loaded as burdens on weary beasts.
2They stoop, they bow down together, they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.
3"Hearken to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb;
4even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
5"To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?
6Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship!
7They lift it upon their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.
8"Remember this and consider, recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
10declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, `My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'
11calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
12"Hearken to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from deliverance:
13I bring near my deliverance, it is not far off, and my salvation will not tarry; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory."

Isaiah 47


1Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chalde'ans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate.
2Take the millstones and grind meal, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.
3Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no man.
4Our Redeemer -- the LORD of hosts is his name -- is the Holy One of Israel.
5Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chalde'ans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.
6I was angry with my people, I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand, you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7You said, "I shall be mistress for ever," so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.
8Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children":
9These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.
10You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me."
11But evil shall come upon you, for which you cannot atone; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able to expiate; and ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
12Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed, perhaps you may inspire terror.
13You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons predict what shall befall you.
14Behold, they are like stubble, the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before!
15Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have trafficked with you from your youth; they wander about each in his own direction; there is no one to save you.

Isaiah 48


1Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the loins of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD, and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right.
2For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name.
3"The former things I declared of old, they went forth from my mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them and they came to pass.
4Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,
5I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, `My idol did them, my graven image and my molten image commanded them.'
6"You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I make you hear new things, hidden things which you have not known.
7They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, `Behold, I knew them.'
8You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and that from birth you were called a rebel.
9"For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.
10Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
11For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
12"Hearken to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am He, I am the first, and I am the last.
13My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.
14"Assemble, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chalde'ans.
15I, even I, have spoken and called him, I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit.
17Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.
18O that you had hearkened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me."
20Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chalde'a, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!"
21They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he cleft the rock and the water gushed out.
22"There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."



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